Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-01-14
SISTER ZILLAH."
A GLIMPSE OF LIFE IN A HlDEOUS
LONDON SlUM.

An Angel in the Midst of an Assmblase
of Evil Ones-Life Work of SISTER Zil-
lah"-Her Strange Influence Refuge
for the Homeless.
You pass through a hideous London slum
the oil lamps flare and flicker in the wind. the
| hoarse hawkers Shrek the ragged children
cry shrilly, and from the public houses come
the confused babble OF laughter and cursing
and the rank watts of acrid smoke. Blowzy
women, dragged women, brazen women.
! drunken women pass you; ugly male night
birds scowl at you with sava~e ewes: foul
mouthed young girls-mere children, alas
salute you with iupudent confidence and the
| night IS full of rank odors and bleared lights.
! You enter narrow alley, watching carefully
! the 1naneuvers OF the skulking creatures who
slouch around with bumped shoulders and
| evil gaze.
4 STRANGE ASSEMBLAGE.
! A door opens and you are in the midst Of a
/ strange assemblage. \ bevy OF women
! gather around some long tables and watch
! you with dull curiosity Here is one who il
pirched with hunger; her thin fingers are
knotty at the joints, her hair is woefully
scanty ard she looks beaten bloodless, sor-
rowful. Here is a bold creature who meets
your look with q hard, brutal stare: she has
| heard the chimes of midnight Here is a
specimen Of the ordinary dirty. garrulous
trollop so freely produced in the wilderness
OF London. Here is mere female animal. q
creature without soul, who sits callol!sly
glowering at vacancy. i coarse laugh
sounds out harshly and then q quiet voice.
with the tone of mellow bell, scars along
the low room and instantly the disorder is
stilled
You move to the head of the room. and YOU
are greeted by q white haired woman dressed
in black. Her eye is like steel, her lips are
composed, her forehead is very placid and her
manners are the manners of a great LADY.
She Is fit TO move in any assembly in the
world and her dignity would draw the ewes
of men and women wherever she went.
Beautiful she has been, and the exquisite re-
mains of her fairness remind YOU of some
splendid buildings grown gray with stress Of
years. When she speaks, YOU hea! that in
ieiinabe accent which is attained only bv
those who live among ultra refined people
from their earliest years. y lady this of the
highest breeding. You feel as if you were in
the presence Of a queen, vet she puts you at
ease instantly and falls into conversation with
polished grace. Witty she is In a subtle way
and her wit is SO strangely blended with
pathos as to present a unique product of in
tellectual chemistry.
ONE WOMAN'S LIFEwoRK
She knows the world. and can fash ont an
occasional speech worthy of the salon rather
than of this dingy she'd; but the ruling
aspect of her face and the essential tones of
her Of IN, -I,,,, tI,,,
Of the world are of small moment. She
masters the evil assemblage in front of her.
and the boldest slut that ever disgraced her
sex is reverential toward the grave. kind
lady, whose Will dominates all As YOU talk
she tells you of her work This refuge is
open every night for the homeless, and her
duty is to help those who are poor, to heal
those who are sick to raise with loving, nler.
ciful words and deeds those who are fallen.
None are too base for this lovely, all en-
bracing charity. RomaDces in plenty she can
tell, and she does so with soft, matter of
fact sweetness. Every form of human
wretchedness is known to her, and her ewes
are fixed day by day on sights of woe Does
she ever leave that fearful quarter? Never!
Think of that, . discontinued, pulling folk.
This lady, who was once beautiful, rich.
courted, has given up all for the sake of
working beneficently in the weary world.
and she passes her days in an appalling Lon
don slum. Lords and ladies of her own class
see her, but they remain only for a little
time: she stays at her post with still con
stancy, and bears the squalor, the ennui, the
l0athsome sights and sounds the recital of
Wrlnglng records OF misery. She IS content
even TO forego her name, and her very iden-
tlty has persisted from the brilliant world
that once knew her Il am Sister Zillah."
she says, with her courtly smile and that is
all. Here is one who is All honor to London.
to England, TO the human race, toiliug Oh
scurely in q place where even men Of the
better class hardly dare venture.-London
Family Herald.